Charissa Stastny – Author

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Southern Charmed

This charming book set in the South just released this week. Here’s the blurb and Amazon link:

Lila Mae Guidry is a Southern girl through and through. As a fourth-generation Latter-day Saint in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she’s proud of her heritage as both a Southerner and a Saint—and she doesn’t take kindly to people who disparage either. Ten years ago, Max Archer was just that kind of jerk. As the mission president’s son, Max spent his entire three years mocking the South . . . and teenage Lila. After Max’s family moved away, Lila forgot about her sworn enemy. Almost.When a new job brings a grown-up Max back to Baton Rouge, Lila is less than thrilled with his reappearance, especially since everyone seems intent on throwing her together with this old adversary. Yet fight as she may, Lila soon realizes resistance is futile—their connection is undeniable. Max embodies everything she wants in a man—except perhaps the most important thing her life is rooted in the city she loves, but his dreams are bigger than Baton Rouge. With such mismatched visions of the future, Max and Lila are faced with a life-altering decision: jeopardize their aspirations or risk losing love.

My review

This book’s title perfectly matched how I felt about it. It charmed me in that subtle way Southerners have about them. I loved the characters. Lila Mae is sweet, witty, and rooted to Louisiana in concrete. Max is charming, yet I kept wondering if it’d be enough to win her over. The romance took time budding, especially since Lila fought her attraction to Max so hard. The pacing was done just perfect enough to keep me turning the pages to see what Lila would do next. I loved how the author worked in teaching inner city high school kids into the plot. That was super fun to read about their challenges. This was a delightful read that had me smiling a lot, especially at the end. I rated it a 5 on Amazon, 4 on Goodreads and 4 on my Sweet Scale. It’s a good, solid story with a clean romance and fun Southern characters that will bring a smile to the grouchiest reader’s face. I highly recommend it.

Giveaway

Enter a Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win cash and a copy of this awesome book. I wish ya’ll some Southern charm as you enter.